Finally! The sun came out today and it actually feels like summer may happen this year. We went to a buffer planting workshop yesterday hosted by Friends of Messalonskee and it was gray and cool until we were almost done. It’s lovely to see the sun! And I’ll be happy to pack away my sweaters for a couple of months.
Since the sun came out, I decided to take a walk around the yard and see what’s blooming. My wild roses (they’re invasives but they’re surviving lakeside) are blooming but my white one took quite a beating in the rain. We have scapes and blueberries and the lettuce is going crazy! Salad for lunch today, for sure. The only plant that seems to be thriving in our “bed where nothing lives)” is the blue Iris and they’re absolutely gorgeous right now. I love our yard!
The Day Lilies and the Hydrangeas are getting ready to pop open and we have some daisies coming along, too. I’ve got a couple of beds of Black Eyed Susans coming up but can’t see any blooms yet.
I finished and blocked #19 this morning as I was ironing my linen blouses. I love what happens to colorwork when it’s blocked. 17 and 18 are not blocked (and need some seaming, but here they all are.
I’ve even begun #20 and have finished the body and most of the first sleeve. I’m making progress and just need to cast on the next one when I bind off the current ones. They’re not difficult to knit or time consuming, I just had to make the commitment to get them done! I’m getting there!
Yesterday was my Longest Day knitting marathon (and fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association). The actual “longest day” is on Wednesday but it’s difficult to commit to knitting from sunrise to sunset on a “work day.” So … the Longest Day team that I am on, Anne Budd’s team, decided that Sunday was the day to knit. And knit we did.
I had decided to work on the mini jumpers designed by Arne and Carlos because I’ve been working on completing the collection for what seems like forever. Two years at least. I’ve now completed 1-19 but two of them still need the ends woven in and seams sewn. I’ll get it done, I promise. I really want to get the knitting done so that we can use them as an advent calendar this year.
I did manage to finish the knitting on 19 despite the fact that the second sleeve had to be frogged and reknit because I got distracted and didn’t finish one round (and started the next round a needle ahead.) I think that happened when I took my husband out for lunch for Father’s Day … Father’s Day also fell on Sunday and I HAD to do something fun with him. His kiddos live far away so it’s up to me to make Father’s Day feel like a special occasion. We went to Belgrade Lakes and visited the Farmer’s Market and had lunch at Belgrade Lakes Seafood. I brought my knitting and I made my mistake while we were waiting for our food.
I had every expectation that knitting all day I would make more “progress” but I am pleased to have gotten one mini jumper completed (and today I wove in the ends and seamed the arm to the body.)
I raised over $800 for the Alzheimer’s Association, too. I am committed to doing what I can to combat Alzheimer’s Disease because of my mom. The photograph here is of my mom and four of her grandchildren. She now has six grandchildren and one great grandchild.
This was the first summer that I knew something was wrong. Mom made the mayonnaise mix twice for her famous potato salad. She forgot her purse when we went to the grocery store. She forgot to take off the emergency brake and drove until the something smelled hot in the car. There were more little things that pointed to a problem but we thought it was just normal aging. And life was really, really busy.
This was the beginning of the sad story where we had to find caregivers for mom because she couldn’t take care of herself. She would forget her wallet and realize it after she pumped the gas, she forgot tennis dates and appointments. She couldn’t remember how to feed her cat. She needed help showering and getting dressed. She needed help.
Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease shortly after this photo was taken. She was diagnosed about ten years before she passed away. She died in 2008 at the “ripe old” age of seventy-six. She had been “gone” for several years; unable to communicate or walk. The once robust, athletic, vivacious woman had dwindled away bit by bit over the ten years post-diagnosis. It was truly a blessing when she passed.
I hope that by knitting from sunup to sundown one day a year that I can make a little difference for Alzheimer’s research funding and that a preventive measure will be found so that in my lifetime there will be people who don’t have to watch their loved on disappear as my mother did. I know I’m not alone in this wish and am grateful for the many who supported my efforts this year.
I’m back in the east coast time (and I’ve adjusted to the time change) after a wonderful week in California. My daughter and son-in-love and their daughter and dogs have moved to San Diego for three months for my daughter’s work. She’s performing a new play about Billie Jean King called Love All at the La Jolla Playhouse. I was brought out to California because they needed childcare for a week when dad had to travel for his work and I was all too happy to oblige!
My granddaughter is sitting up all by herself now and starting to get up on her knees and rock. She is a professional sleeper and loves to eat just about anything you feed her … but she doesn’t like eggs. We took lots of walks, played on the floor a ton and snuggled a bunch. It was wonderful spending the time with her. Bonus – I got to spend some time with her mother, too. I love seeing my daughter with her daughter. It absolutely fills my heart.
We visited the San Diego Zoo Safari Park which was incredible! We even saw a platypus. They’re much smaller than I’d thought they were. We walked all over the park and it was amazing. The weather was cool and overcast so it was a perfect day to see all the animals and they weren’t hiding in the shade. We too their African Cart ride and saw so many animals up pretty close. We all agreed it was a wonderful place and worth every cent!
Most mornings I walked from my AirBnB to my daughter’s apartment and along the way I enjoyed the flora and fauna. (Luckily I didn’t see much fauna other than birds.) The plants, though, according to my daughter and I agreed, looked very much like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Little did we know that Theodore Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) lived in San Diego/ La Jolla from 1948 until his death in 1991. So, when you’re reading Green Eggs and Ham or the Cat in the Hat, you’ll see exactly what La Jolla looks like! Some of the plants I loved are pictured above. The trees with few leaves and huge red flowers were among my favorites!
We went to the La Jolla Cove and walked along the coast after lunch. There were sea lions everywhere sunning themselves. And there were lots of babies. Living along the hillsides were hundreds of cormorants, some with nests and young. And more flowers on the hillside to make things pretty. It was a fascinating walk and fun people watching.
I have been knitting, too, I just didn’t get a lot of knitting done when I was in California. I’ve finished socks for my daughter, Libet. I used my favorite sock pattern by Yankee Knitter (#29 Classic Socks) and some deeply stashed yarn which turned out to be Dream in Color yarn. (All the details are on my project page in Ravelry.) I love the way these socks turned out. The colorway is an incredible mix of purples of all shades and they’re subtle until you look at them closely. I think she’ll be pleased. The color doesn’t photograph well and falls somewhere between the two photos below. What’s a knitter to do?
I finished the Tybee Sweater for Sylvie before I left and gave it a good wash and block. It’s so cute and it fits!!! I loved knitting this sweater, it’s soft against the skin and the colorway is brilliant – rainbows in softer shades. I love the buttons that I found for it at RIx Rax in Montreal. They’re vintage orange plastic (washable) and they’re perfect for this cardigan. The baby wore it several times in CA.
Tybee Cardigan in Berroco Vivo
I also finished my Old Port Hat by Andrea Mowry. This was a fun hat to knit – and I still don’t like myself in hats. I’m not sure there is a hat in this world that I will like on myself. I knitted this hat in a collection of left-over yarns that were in my stash. I had some left over bright pink alpaca that I used for the ear flap lining and then I had some Patagonia and some Rowan Felted Tweed. They are all, for the most part, used up. Woo! Hoo! I love it when I decide to knit something and don’t have to buy new yarn for it. The hat is really interesting to knit and I love the way it looks. I may decide to wear it this winter even though I don’t like it on me. It will be nice and warm!
According to my records, that means that I’ve finished 27 projects so far this year. Remaining WIPs on my needles are: My Favorite Genser (Norwegian pullover), Three Season Cardigan, and I just started while I was away a summer sweater, Lane’s Island Pullover by Lori Versaci. The original design was two-color stripes but I’m knitting it in one color (ivory) in a recycled fiber, Remix Light by Berroco yarns. I have another sweater (or two, now that I think of it) in this yarn and I love it year-round. This white one will be really versatile, too. I’ve completed up to the arm pit decreases and have a few more inches to go on the front. It will have 3/4 sleeves. (No photos.)
I’ve still got a few of the Arne and Carlos mini Nordic jumpers to finish and one of these days I’ll just get it done. I’ve finished through #18 … seven are left. I have until December, right?
I also have a pair of mittens that I started eons ago. They’re super cute but they seem to be coming out too big (again!) I’ve started this pattern once before and I’m not sure why they’re so big. I’ve got to measure the gauge to see if I’m on the right track … and if they’re way off, I may put these aside forever. Or at least for awhile. Or forever.
It’s been a beautiful but cool day. We did squeak in coffee on the porch before the breeze started to make it too cool and I got one shawl blocked last night and another this morning. I have a few ends to weave in on one and ends to cut on the other (even though I wore it to work today). This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and the weather is supposed to turn warm (or hot!) on Sunday. I don’t love hot …
The first FO is my Orbit shawl in Urth Uneek Cotton yarn. I think I “won” this yarn in a drawing at work and it’s been in my stash for a year or two. I have decided that I really like long, narrow shawls (aka scarves) in the warmer season for a “pop” of color. This yarn was asking to become something and I really didn’t want to have to buy more or have any left over. So, when I researched different projects for this yarn, I initially wanted to make the Easy Scarf by Diane Augustin but I decided that knitting the Orbit shawl was going to be a little bit more interesting. I used one skein of Urth Uneek Cotton and I searched for the pattern on Ravelry’s “pattern ideas” tab for the yarn.
I have to say that knitting this shawl/scarf was fun enough. Not difficult for sure. But I didn’t love the way the colorway transitioned from the fall-like colors that it started with and then it transitioned into springy-y colors. I don’t love it but it’s ok. The most displeasing piece of this project was the knot in the yarn. It was early in the skein and it was a tiny knot. I am so glad that I found it and that I pulled on it (and it came apart). In my humble opinion there should not be knots in premium yarns. Yarn companies should do better. This knot had to have been tied by a human being and it should have been pulled and discounted immediately.
My second FO is the Falderal Shawl by Romi Designs. This was a MKAL for 2023 and I had never knitted a Romi pattern and I chose to start with this one. I am really (really) happy with this project. It was fun to knit, Romi provided plenty of support and videos to help knitters through the “rough spots” if they didn’t have a lot of experience. I work on Fridays which was when she had the live zooms but it’s all good – they were on her YouTube channel.
I chose two colors of Emma’s Yarn Practically Perfect sock yarn in a purple speckle and a deep purple-y gray. (Details are on my Ravelry project page.) Purple is not my “normal” color choice and I’m trying to live outside of my comfort zone a little bit. But I loved knitting this shawl, it was challenging but not too challenging and there were a few new techniques that I learned by watching the playback of the live sessions. It’s always fun to knit lace and then watch the magic happen when it’s blocked. I really didn’t know what it would look like until it was sopping wet and being stretched out on my guest room bed … and bonus, it dried yesterday when I was at work! It’s really dry here in Maine right now and that worked to my benefit!
On the needles and hoping to be a FO soon (very soon!) is my Tybee cardigan for Sylvie. This is a free pattern from Berroco for a little cotton cardigan with a shawl collar. Raglan sleeves make it easy to finish up at the end. Bottom up construction with only a couple of short seams. I love the feel of the Vivo cotton yarn. It’s a thick and thin yarn so the sweater will be easy to care for (machine wash, dry flat). I love the colorful yarn that stripes randomly. It’ll be a cute sweater for cooler late summer days or evenings.
I think I will be spending a little bit of time, too, before I cast on another significant project*, finishing up a few more Arne and Carlos mini Nordic jumpers for my Advent calendar. I think I’ve found how I will display them in our house. I can’t wait to try it but first I have to finish the knitting. I think I have enough yarn to make the rest of them. (Crossing fingers!) #19 is up next.
I have a pair of socks for daughter #2 on the needles. She picked the yarn out of my stash and I want to have the socks finished for her birthday. I won’t have a problem with that and I have plenty of time. The first sock is nearly complete – toe decreases are in process. Sock #2 is likely to be next week’s focus.
Gone knitting.
*Oops! I did it again. Cast on to do the Old Port hat KAL with Andrea Mowry. I’m using stashed yarn and a couple of left-overs, actually. Starting with the lining in bright pink alpaca and then I’ll be transitioning to charcoal gray and a light gray. I’m not sure which will be color a and color b. Stay tuned.
It’s another beautiful day here on the lake. A lot of sun and a little breeze. Just about perfect. We had coffee on the porch and watched an eagle, a pair of wood ducks, and other water birds.
I wanted to post a bit about knitting because I am knitting. Trying to balance the post about the railroad and the lake that I posted earlier this morning (written yesterday.)
My last knitting post was about my last two FOs: the Daisy Cardigan and the Jasmine Romper, both for my granddaughter. I love knitting little things. And with that in mind …
This is the most recent pattern that I’ve knitted for Sylvie. The pattern is free on Ravelry and is published on Knitty.com. If you haven’t heard of Knitty.com, it’s an emailed magazine of electronic patterns and this was one of their patterns from awhile back. The original was a leopard print but I couldn’t imagine doing the duplicate stitching that would be required AND I already had the yarn in pink … although there’s a story about that, too.
Jane of the Jungle is a two-piece pattern in two sizes for babies/toddlers. Mine is a peanut so even this smaller size may not fit her this summer. Time will tell. I knitted the top first and it’s really simple and makes me giggle – a halter top for a baby? Ha! Ha! The icord straps will make it a little softer around baby’s neck. The bottoms are also pretty cute. These may end up being used often. They’re knitted in one piece, the ruffles are knitted first and then added in – I knit the ruffle stitches together with the pants stitches and it was a little bit fiddly but much easier than sewing them on afterward. All I need to do is weave in the ends and seam the sides of the pants and this outfit will be ready for the beach!
I ran out of pink yarn (and I don’t love working with Cascade’s Fixation. I’m sorry, I just don’t.) a little bit past the crotch of the bottoms. Of course I did! I considered several “saves” possible – frog back to the ruffles and knit the ruffles in a different color, frog the top and re-knit in a different or two colors to match the newly reimagined bottoms, or bite the bullet and buy more yarn. I was hoping to use up yarn not buy more yarn. Well, I lost at yarn chicken … and the new ball is a different lot number and just a slightly different color … so I did end up frogging back a bit and starting the new ball just in the middle of the legs. So be it. Note to self: Next time. start with using two colors so you don’t have to buy more.
Spoiler Alert!
I’m also working away, although I’m a little bit behind, on Romi’s 11th Annual MKAL called, Falderal. We know it’s a two-color triangular shawl (you can buy the pattern on Ravelry.)
I’ve wanted to knit a Romi Hill pattern for a long time and for whatever reason, this is the one that I am starting with and I have enjoyed it so far. The MKAL is in five parts and we have had three parts released. I’m still finishing part two … I said that I was a little bit behind, right? If you are knitting this shawl and are behinder than I am and don’t want to see what it’ll look like then stop reading here.
Part One was a lace triangle. The lace was simple enough and the cast on was interesting. I am enjoying the recordings of the lives from YouTube. I won’t be able to watch any lives because they’re always on a day that I work. But it’s ok. They’re recorded.
Part Two adds in the second color and it’s an interesting slip stitch pattern with some simple cables. I’ve finished the first of the two charts in this section and am about to jump into the second chart. The photos are not of the end of the first chart or the end of the second part, but here’s what I had as of yesterday afternoon … I never did get dressed yesterday.
I have made no progress on my Three Seasons Cardigan. I haven’t even tried. My thinking was that I would be taking my Romi shawl with me when we travel to Knit City Montreal in a couple of weeks but I think we will be getting clue 5 when we’re there. I’ll have to plan to bring a different shawl.
I am knitting the Three Seasons Cardigan in Katia Concept Cotton-Merino in the black colorway. This is the colorway that I saw when I fell in love with this pattern. AND the yarn is not disappointing me at all. The stitch definition is amazing. The yarn is soft and nice to knit with and the pattern is very well written. I am at the end of the first 50 rows of the back and am about to begin the arm scye (a little triangle added in so that you can have a nice smooth arm pit.) I’ll have this sweater done in time to wear it this fall and winter. It’s not a pattern that I can knit when I’m in a group or that I can knit and watch TV because I tend to make mistakes in the charts. But it’s getting easier to follow as I go and now that I can read my knititng.
My Window Box – Box rhymes with socks …
I also cast on a pair of socks. I love knitting socks and have a small horde of sock yarns. This pair will be for my daughter, Libet. She chose the yarn from my stash. It’s from deep stash, I have absolutely no recollection of where I bought it but it’s knitting up to be quite pretty. Wherever I bought it, good for me! Ha! Ha! I haven’t taken any photographs yet. Coming soon to a post near you?
I still have a few projects in project bags on the shelf in my studio. My genser, a pair of colorwork mittens and Arne and Carlos mini Nordic jumpers (they have got to be finished before Christmas!) There may be more in the cabinet in my atelier but I don’t want to know about that right now. What I have out, what I can see is enough to keep me going for a while. At least my boss is coming back to Maine this week and I won’t be working any extra days. More time to knit!
This morning was one of those lovely sunny spring mornings when all seems right with the world. I had an 8:00am phone call with one of the other lake association heads to discuss a possible collaborative approach to milfoil mitigation going forward. It was a good talk and I value their work in our region. Our lake association is a group of dedicated volunteers and we’ve been fighting an uphill battle for funding since our inception but we’ve done incredible work. Volunteers are more difficult to find these days and finding a seasonal workforce has become much more difficult since the pandemic. It’s been a busy two years as the president of Friends of Messalonskee and I’m getting ready to pass the torch at the end of July.
I’ll have more time to knit, want to add time for sewing more and did I mention that I will have more time to knit?
I’ve been making progress on my Arne and Carlos Mini Nordic Jumpers Advent Calendar. I’ve mostly finished numbers 17 and 18. I only have to seam the underarms and block them. They take about a day to knit and it’s so satisfying to finish something. I have another seven to finish before the end of November. I think this year I may actually get there.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to display these sweaters in our house … any suggestions? I was thinking a “laundry line” hanging in front of the windows in the living room. I’m not sure about it so any suggestions are most welcome.
I’ve restarted my Favorite Genser but to be fully honest, I haven’t been focusing too much on getting it knitted because I have a very important socks to knit. Today I made it to the toe of the second pair of “the longest pair of socks ever” … and I will have the first sock finished before I go to bed tonight. I’m knitting a new pair of socks for my “baby” brother who is having a birthday next month. He’s a really exceptional brother (my big brother is, too!) and I wanted to make him some new sister-made socks for this birthday. It’s a big one for both of us this year. I’ve chosen to knit his socks in the “Legal Tender” colorway of Practically Perfect Sock by Emma’s Yarn. His favorite color is green and the word “legal” reminded me of our father. No pictures allowed because I want him to be the first to see them. I did show you a very starting photo here.
Jasmine Romper in Universal Bamboo Pop
I’m making slow progress on Sylvie’s little bamboo & cotton romper. This is quite a fun knitting pattern and I can’t wait to see her little pudgy legs in it. There are lots of colors of Bamboo Pop and I chose white. It’s a good summer colorway. Maybe I’ll make another one, too.
On April 1 we are starting a Plant Fiber-Along at work. I’m technically leading the PFAL (see what I did there?) I have some worsted weight cotton that I would love to knit out of my stash. I was given it by a former student and her parents from back in the day when I was a school “nurse” at an elementary school. It’s a light teal-y blue and it’s really soft. I’ve got five hanks of the yarn and I hope it’ll be enough for a sleeveless tank or a tee shirt. I’ve got to start something so I can show my progress in our Sunday email newsletter. It may end up being a little sweater for my granddaughter … Hey! It could be worse, right?
I have other projects on the needles that I’m not even paying attention to right now. And sweaters worth of yarn to get done. So much knitting, so little time. Gone knitting.
What a beautiful sight when we opened our eyes this morning. The lake was covered with fog but as the sun started to come up, there was a little spot of light. It’s been like the last few very gray days for me … lots of emotional fog and low energy but a little bright spot because I know that the days are getting longer and the sun will be shining more soon. Well, we have more snow in the forecast this week so that “soon” is relative. BUT today I am feeling much better and I attribute it to the sun because everything else remains pretty much the same.
Yesterday and over the last few days I’ve recommitted myself to finishing some old projects that have been set aside. One of them for almost two years. And I didn’t have a lot of work to do to get it finished. This morning I blocked it for a second (third?) time and it’s ready to be attached to a dowel and hung. My hubby is bringing a dowel home from work this afternoon and I’ll attach it and hang it then.
It all started with the Covid-19 pandemic when I decided to take time away from work in mid-March of 2020 and Arne & Carlos started a pandemic KAL. Weekly YouTube sessions were something to look forward to and I joined.
It started with one little block in stashed yarn that I won as a door prize at my LYS on March 17th, 2020. One little yellow and white stranded knitting project. Something that made me feel like I had a purpose and I had a community.
And then in blossomed into more and more blocks. One each week. It gave me something to look forward to as we zoomed with our kids over cocktails and zoomed with my knitting group on Fridays. Life was so NOT normal but was feeling a bit more “normal” considering the circumstances.
And then in the late summertime, it felt safe enough to return to work masked, of course and the little blocks were relegated to my unfinished cabinet and left there. For weeks. I’d take them out and look at them and try to decide what they should be. Some people designed additional blocks and I knitted one or two of them but I had 19 blocks and I had run out of my different colors of yarn and only had (maybe) enough to make one more “rainbow” block. (I ended up choosing NOT to.)
On Monday I decided I was going to finish a project. I pulled out two WIPs and decided that my Arne & Carlos KAL is the one getting finished. I. had seamed together a few thinking that I was going to make a cushion for the couch or my studio but I changed my mind and decided to make a wall hanging. (I told you I’m getting a new knitting chair, right?) Well, the orange in the blocks will look great with my new chair, so … I seamed the rest of the blocks that I wanted to use together.
And because it’s never “that easy” … I decided that in order to hang it up, I needed to stabilize the edges a bit. I thought about sewing fabric to the back to do this and then decided to keep the integrity of the knitting object and pulled out my black yarn and crocheted a slip stitch all around the edge. This really did help the structure so it won’t stretch when hung, but it didn’t look great.
Again, I considered getting a piece of poster board or foam core or thin wood product but since it was snowing like crazy, I decided to keep it “simple” and knit a garter stitch border around the edges. It took me the better part of the day but by last night, the knitting was done. I blocked it again this morning and awaiting the hubby’s arrival home with the dowel which I’ll stitch to the back of my wall hanging and it’ll be done and done.
We have had the coldest weather yet! Maine saw negative double digits at the end of last week. We saw -12 degrees here at our house on Saturday morning. On Friday we started the day in the positive range but the temperatures dropped hourly. What a fun few days watching the temps!
We had no damage to our pipes although the windows did have ice on the inside in some parts of the house. I thought about hanging quilts in the big living room windows but never got it done. Luckily, we were warm. I am so grateful for our warm comfortable house.
These cold days have been great days to be a knitter, though. I spent all of Saturday and Sunday in my studio … I didn’t even get dressed! I’ve got a lot of knitting going on and I wanted to share with you before I get everything finished.
I’m participating in the Modern Daily Knitting and Arne and Carlos KAL, the Setesdal Hat which is in the new Field Guide 23. I was late to the party and got the electronic file of the book. We had three of the colors of Norwegian yarn at my LYS (on sale!) and one of my friends/co-workers and I ordered the other two colors from another LYS in Southern Maine. When I saw the colors I wasn’t convinced but once I got knitting, I’ve become a changed woman! I love the colors! I’m not sure if the hat is going to fit my big head but it will fit someone and meanwhile, I’m having fun knitting it.
Setesdal Hat by Arne and Carlos
I’ve knitted through the pink and the next part of the KAL begins on Tuesday. I was tempted to keep knitting and I could have finished the hat on Saturday but I decided to play along as a good group member and wait until the start of week 2.
And then I went to work on my Knitography Farm Stranded Knitting Course project, Deep Winter on the Path Hals. I’m knitting this cowl/hals in Jamieson & Smith Shetland Jumper Weight yarn in three natural shades. This cowl is a great piece to practice Patricia’s stranded knitting techniques and it’s an online class that can be taken as you have time and a prerequisite for her sweater class that I want to take this spring.
Deep Winter on the Path Hals by Patricia Anne Fortune
I’ve completed the ribbing and the first motif and am ready to begin the second motif. It’s been good practice and I like the colors and the pattern. I don’t love cowls, though. I think I’ll finish the second motif, and then knit to balance the pattern and make it a headband. And, bonus, I’ve just chosen the yarn to knit the beginner genser (pullover).
I have finished the squishy black alpaca socks for my son and they’re yummy. I wish I had feet as big as his! I may have to knit a pair of socks for me in the Lang Alpaca Soxx yarn. It’s so soft and squishy and I’ll bet they’ll be nice and warm, too. I used my standby pattern, Yankee Knitter’s Classic Socks pattern. Black socks are a trip to knit. I had no trouble knitting the cuff or the leg or the foot but when you have to be able to see the stitches … ha! ha! Not happening. For the first time ever, I had to wait until the morning and good light to pick up the gusset stitches and to Kitchener Stitch the toes.
Yankee Knitter Classic Socks
I also finished by Stashbuster Shawl. The yarn has been in my stash for years. The yarn is The Fiber Seed’s Sprout Sock in the Rainbow in the Dark colorway. I loved this colorway because it’s alternating black and rainbow speckles. I knew it would be a fun knit and when my friend Peggy came into the store wearing a Stashbuster Shawl in the same yarn, I knew what my yarn wanted to be! The Stashbuster Shawl is a simple garter stitch shawl – good for watching TV at night – with a fun picot edge. And mine is huge! It’s narrow but it has to be seven or eight feet wide. It’s blocking right now and I can’t wait to wear it.
Stashbuster Shawl by Heather Haynes
My Emsworth vest has not even been touched since I started the Norwegian knitting adventure. The hals, the hat and my last WIP, a traditional Norwegian Hals pattern that Patricia shared on one of our Zoom meetings – the community meets pretty regularly to get updates and ask questions. The pattern is a reconstruction of an historical pattern. I waited to order yarn from Norway to knit it – had to try the real Norwegian yarn, right? I’ve got the turtleneck to finish,18cm of turtleneck, and then I’ll have another FO. Yay, me! I’ve got to get cracking on my Emsworth next and get it finished before the Knitography Farm “Choose Your Own Path” Genser Course starts on February 19th.
I’ve also promised socks (a Christmas gift) to my husband and I pulled out the pattern that I’m going to knit. An aside, one evening when we were watching the news I noticed that he had my socks on … a cabled worsted weight pair … he wondered why they were a bit small. I’m not sure how I got them in his sock pile but I did. Now he’ll have a well-fitting pair of his own. The pattern is Urban Rustic Socks. Be careful, if you look this pattern up, you’re going to want to knit them!
I have six more WIPs in my Ravelry project queue that I haven’t discussed in quite awhile … I’ll get there. Don’t nag me. Ha! Ha! Ha!
We woke to this view this morning and are so thankful for the privilege of living here, this close to nature and where we can escape the craziness of the world. We are just back from our Thanksgiving gathering in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Two of my kids and their partners and dogs came up from New York. It was a wonderful Northshore Thanksgiving – seafood feast; clam chowder from the Causeway Restaurant in Gloucester, steamed clams and lobsters and dessert from the Italian bakery in the north end of Boston. A wonderful gathering of family and friends who are like family.
I’ve been knitting away and have finished several projects that I can share and a couple that I won’t.
I had a commission for three simple Christmas stockings from my cousin who had lost hers to a moth infestation. She requested green, red and white and I insisted that I’d put on their names. I made an effort to get them finished by Thanksgiving because I’ve lost the post office holiday “battle” before when items intended for Christmas didn’t arrive in time … even when sent two weeks in advance. I didn’t want that to happen here. I’ll be writing up this pattern in the coming weeks for my followers. Why not, right?
I also finished a stocking for my granddaughter. I wanted hers to match her parents and thankfully I kept a copy of the pattern. I must have had the book once upon a time but I don’t any more. I knit Sylvie’s stocking out of Plymouth Galway yarn in an Aran colorway. The stocking is cabled with two different cable patterns on it. The hugs and kisses cables go down the front and back of the sock from top to the tip of the toe, around the heel, too. It’s not an easy pattern but I’ve learned to read my knitting and cross the stitches according to my eyes in order to keep the pattern going. If my memory serves, I added a tassel and an initial ornament to her parents’ stockings. I couldn’t find a nice “S” ornament but I found a cute photo ornament and I think it’ll be good.
I’ve knitted a few things for my granddaughter that I think I can share with you since she’s not yet reading (she’s one month old!) I made her a pair of faux shearling booties and a Christmas sweater and a Love and Light to hang in her nursery.
The shearling booties have knitted cuffs. This is a fairly simple kit to knit that one of my co-workers saved out for me. She was knitting a pair for her granddaughter and I’m grateful that she thought of me. Every well-dressed Maine grand baby needs these. The are a “kit” by Boye called Starting Point Cozy Cuff Baby Booties. I used scraps of Berroco Vintage for the cuffs. I can’t wait to see these on her!
Babies love to look at lights and I thought a light-up heart, Love and Light, designed by Laura Nelkin would be a good addition to her nursery. I had ordered the 200-light strand of fairy lights from Amazon some time ago and finally grabbed my needles to get it done. It’s such “big” knitting that it doesn’t take too long to make and it’s absolutely adorable.
I made her a Newborn Vertebrae sweater in rainbow sock yarn and because this fits so well, I decided to make her another one, this time for Christmas. I knitted the body of the sweater with white sock yarn and then grabbed some bits of stashed yarn and knitted red cuffs, a green and red border around the front of the sweater, and then i duplicate stitched a big green Christmas tree with a bright yellow star to the back. I think it’s adorable. I really wanted to put some sequins and beads on it but babies only spend time on their backs these days and that would NOT have been comfortable. Maybe next year!
I’ve still got a Musselburgh hat to finish but I’m nearly up to the decreases and finishing. I hope it fits. I think it’ll be warm. Pictures to follow as it’s a gift. I’ve got 15 of my Arne and Carlos Norwegian mini-Jumpers finished and number 16 is on the needles. Needless to say, these will not be finished this year and it’s ok. I’ll get them done for next year and this year I’ve bought all of my kids a chocolate advent calendar from Harbor Sweets in Salem, MA. If you’ve not tried their sweet sloops, you’re in for a treat. They’re quite a step up from the $1 chocolate advent calendars from the Christmas Tree Store in Augusta!
I have a couple of pairs of mittens on the needles, too. The KAL “Merry” mittens has been fun. I’ve knitted through the end of the third clue and have the fourth to do next. And there’s a second mitten, too. The Peace de Resistance mittens have been chilling out in my knitting bag for ages. They’ll be happy to see the light of day one of these days. There’s also a pair of socks on my needles.
As of today I’ve completed about 63 projects. I think. I keep track in my bullet journal and in my Ravelry queue (mark the year you’re knitting in the “tags” area) I’m quite pleased about this number because I’ve been working and teaching and volunteering on two boards of trustees so I’ve been busy.
I want to touch back to the sad end of of our Thanksgiving when we had to say goodbye to my beloved grand-dog, Willow. On Friday morning, something was wrong with our girl. Luckily, my brother is a veterinarian and he and his wife scooped up a very uncomfortable Willow and took her to their animal hospital for a check. It turned out that she had a “sizable” tumor on her heart and the heart was surrounded by fluid from the tumor. The fluid could be tapped and drained but there was no way of knowing how quickly it would fill up again. My daughter and her husband made the difficult decision to put Willow to sleep so she wouldn’t suffer, and she was suffering. We all had a chance to visit with her and say our farewells and my brother and sister-in-love are the most caring and compassionate team I know. We are so very lucky that we were there at their house when this happened. The kids were scheduled to head back into New York City that morning and it could just as easily have happened in the car. At least our dear Willow was surrounded by people who love her as she passed away. We will all miss her.
We see a lot more sunrises on the lake in the winter. We have gone back to daylight savings time here in Maine, falling back an hour. This means that we wake up to sunrise and it’s dark before the end of the workday. But it’s beautiful. The sun rises in the colder months almost directly across the lake from our bedroom window and that means the sun shines straight in. It’s lovely waking up to a colorful sky.
Life has been busy on the lake. We have been trying to get the gardens cleaned out and the pots emptied and put away. My hubby planted the garlic and covered it with a thick layer of hay. We have had our first snow … not enough to shovel and followed by rain, but first snow. It was lovely for me because I stayed in and enjoyed the warm, cozy house and a day of drinking tea and knitting.
We’ve been doing a lot of “family planning” with the holidays closing in on us again. We will be in Marblehead, MA for Thanksgiving this year with some of the kids, then heading to the Washington, DC area for (bonus daughter) Robin’s wedding and then I’ll be heading to New York City for my first babysitting gig as a grandma. The baby has hit her one month mark, loves to eat and hates to sleep on her back, alone, in her bassinet. Her parents are exhausted but totally in love.
Basic Christmas Stocking by Queen Bee Knits (pattern coming soon)
I’ve completed two of my three commissioned stockings and am working on the third. It’s of interested to note that I am using three different brands of yarn for these three stockings and they’re each a bit different. I think I saved the best for last, Cascade 220, which was the only 100% wool yarn that I found that was “white enough” to pass as white – not ivory or cream or aran colored. I’ve gotten down to the heel in about 6.5 hours of knitting. I estimated ten hours and we’ll see how close I get. I’m not as good as lawyers are at keeping track of my time. My dear old dad would be so disappointed (not really). Once tis he knitting complete, I’ll duplicate stitch the names onto them and send them off. The really rough pattern notes are here. I’ll write up the pattern when I can and post it on Ravelry.
I’ve finished the baby’s Christmas stocking, too. I made this stocking pattern for her parents “a few” years back. It must have been before I kept real records of my projects on Ravelry. But I do know that the pattern is out of a book … and I kept the pattern but didn’t keep the book. SO … I’m lucky that I have it to knit again. I really enjoy knitting cables. I had forgotten how much. This stocking is fairly heavily cabled but very satisfying to knit. The X and O cable pattern is easy to memorize with the stitches crossing every four rounds. Once you have learned how to make a cable lean to the left or the right, it’s a pretty easy pattern to read as you go. The “ornament” pattern is less intuitive but it’s really lovely. I love the way the design incorporates the cables all the way through the heel flap and heel turn and all the way down to the toe. The pattern is Hugs and Kisses Aran Stocking by Dee Lockwood.
Hugs and Kisses Aran Stocking
I’ve made a second Newborn Vertebrae for Sylvie. This time it’s a Christmas design. She’s getting so much bigger but she’s still pretty tiny and she spends a lot of time being held or lying on her back. (She much prefers the former, by the way.) The rainbow vertebrae sweater that I knit her fits her perfectly and her mom and I decided it was a good fit for the time through Christmas. We hope. Anyway, I used a 50g. ball of fingering weight sock yarn for the body of the sweater and then I dove into my stash for the accent colors. I found several greens and a lovely red and I’ve decorated the sweater appropriately. I wanted to go all out and decorate further with sequins and beads BUT they’ll be like a bad princess and the pea story because the beads would poke the baby’s back. So it’s unadorned for the most part. I just have to add a tiny yellow star.
I’ve set aside the Merry KAL until I get the deadline knitting finished. Suffice it to say that I was really (really) tired on Thursday after work and I decided to pick up this pattern for a bit … I knit and then promptly frogged the same rounds. Moral of the story is knit a very simple pattern when you’re sleep deprived or you’ll be tinking back. Ha! Ha!
Christmas Newborn Vertebrae#16 still unfinishedOne through fifteen
My Arne and Carlos Mini-Advent-Jumpers are frozen at number 15 1/2. I’ve begun number 16 but I haven’t been back to work on it for a few weeks. I don’t think I’ll finish them this year and that’s going to be ok. I’m going to give myself some grace since I haven’t stopped working whether it’s as president of the lake association, a board member for Maine Arts Academy, at the store or in my own knitting business. I also have a life aside from work and a house to clean, laundry, groceries, cooking, baking and sometimes I have to sleep, too. The LYS where I work and teach is kicking off a Fall Smalls KAL/CAL on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we’re going to work on small projects – participants can come knit with the group for no cost and can work on any small project they want; toys, a small sweater, a hat, dishcloths, whatever. Our Fall Smalls KAL/CAL will run for just a few weeks and end on the Winter Solstice. A little (pun intended) fun ahead of a busy holiday season.
I also have a Musselburgh hat on the needles that I’ve spoken very little about. This has been my knitting go-to for when I need something “brainless” to knit. I’ve got the hat nearly to eighteen inches and time to decrease for the end of the hat. BUT it’s been a lot of knitting in the round. Once past the increases which are not difficult it’s time to knit forever! I’ve been knitting forever. This is a hat designed for several different yarn weights. I’ve chosen a fingering weight sock yarn, washable, Berroco Vintage Sock in the black colorway. I’ll tell you honestly that I don’t love this yarn. I would rather be knitting with wool rather than this combination of acrylic and wool. The yarn is soft and washable, suitable for wearing against the skin and also suitable for babies. But my daughter said she’d wear a black hat and I wanted to try the pattern to see how it knits up. I love the pattern. Ysolda (Teague, the designer) is a genius. I hope it’ll be a perfect fit!
I’ll leave you here, dear friend (dare I say friends?) with the idea that this is a wonderful time to gather with friends and/or family and count your blessings even if they’re as simple as a crisp cool day with sun or the feel of yarn passing through your fingers. I’m grateful for a healthy family, the opportunity to travel to be with many of them over the course of the next few weeks and, of course for yarn. This is the time to fall back into the winter routine of coming inside and (hopefully) slowing down a little and knitting.
Queen Bee Knits 